Works with any instrument or voice. Adjustable A=440 Hz reference. Audio never leaves your device.
If you're tuning, you're probably about to work on a tricky passage. PracticeSession lets you slow songs down without changing pitch, loop sections to bar grids, change keys, isolate the instrument you're shadowing, and follow synced lyrics and notation, all from one window.
The top-left pill picks your microphone or audio interface. Plugging a guitar straight into a USB interface gives the cleanest reading; a built-in laptop mic works fine for acoustic instruments and voice.
Device names only appear after you grant mic permission. The browser hides them until then for privacy.
The big italic letter shows the detected note, the needle shows how far off you are, and the cents readout gives you the precise offset. Above ±10 ¢ feels noticeably out of tune; in-tune locks around 0 ¢.
Sharp = pitch is high, loosen the string. Flat = pitch is low, tighten the string.
Drag the handle on the signal bar to set the noise floor. Raise it if room noise keeps triggering false readings. Drag the clarity handle to make the tuner stricter about what counts as a clean note (good for muddy signals).
Change A4 from 440 Hz to 442 Hz, 432 Hz, or anywhere else with the top-right pill. The tuner re-bases all readings instantly.
After tuning, want to dig into a tricky passage? Learn how to slow down a song without changing its pitch.
Any monophonic source: guitar, bass, violin, viola, cello, ukulele, mandolin, harp, brass, woodwinds, and voice. It reports the nearest note and how many cents off you are. There's no "guitar mode" vs "violin mode" because pitch is pitch.
A cent is 1/100th of a semitone. ±5 cents is the smallest difference most listeners can hear on sustained tones; under ±3 cents is the "locked" zone for solo playing. For ensemble work you'll generally want to be within ±5 cents of your section. If you're working on intonation across a piece, slow practice helps your ear catch deviations you'd miss at tempo.
The tuner displays sharp note names by convention. D# and Eb are the exact same pitch in equal temperament, so they're enharmonic equivalents. The cents readout is what matters; the letter name is a label.
A=440 Hz is the modern international standard, in use since 1955. Some orchestras tune to A=442 or A=443 for a brighter sound; many early-music ensembles use A=415 (a semitone below). A=432 is popular in some online circles but has no scientific or historical consensus behind it. Use whatever your ensemble or recording uses.
Usually one of three things: (1) your operating system's "audio enhancements" or "voice clarity" features are filtering instrument sounds (disable them in your sound settings), (2) the wrong input device is selected, or (3) the signal gate (the handle on the signal meter) is set too high. The tuner shows a hint after 5 seconds of silence with the same advice.
No. Pitch detection runs entirely in your browser via the Web Audio API. Your audio never leaves your computer. No accounts, no signups, nothing logged.
Yes, the tuner is responsive and works in mobile Chrome and Safari. Mobile mic preamps are noisier than desktop, so you may need to nudge the clarity handle a bit higher.
The detection engine is identical: same DSP pipeline, same accuracy. The PracticeSession desktop app adds the deeper smoothing knobs (highpass filter cutoff, median window size, response stiffness), and sits alongside the full practice toolkit: pitch/tempo control, looping, stem isolation, synced lyrics, and notation viewing. Try the app free for 14 days, or read how it compares to Amazing Slow Downer and Anytune.
The tuner above works with any instrument or voice. Here are the open-string notes for the most common ones, so you know what to aim for as you tune each string.
Standard guitar tuning is E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4 (low to high). Pluck one string at a time and let it ring; loosen the string if the tuner reads sharp, tighten it if it reads flat. Stop adjusting when the needle settles within ±3 cents of center.
For Drop D, retune only the low E down a whole step to D2. For half-step-down (common in rock), drop every string by one semitone: Eb2 Ab2 Db3 Gb3 Bb3 Eb4.
Standard 4-string bass tuning is E1 A1 D2 G2. Bass fundamentals sit an octave below standard guitar, so the tuner needs a clean signal to lock on. Plug straight into an audio interface if you can. Acoustic pickup via a laptop mic works but you may need to lower the signal threshold (drag the handle on the signal bar to the left).
For 5-string bass, the added low string is B0. For drop tuning, drop the low E to D1.
Violin is tuned in perfect fifths: G3 D4 A4 E5. Many violinists tune the A first to a reference pitch (you can play A4 from a piano, another instrument, or a tuning fork), then tune the other strings to it. Use the fine tuners on the tailpiece for small adjustments and the pegs only for larger ones.
Viola is C3 G3 D4 A4, cello is C2 G2 D3 A3, double bass is E1 A1 D2 G2.
Standard ukulele (soprano, concert, tenor) is tuned G4 C4 E4 A4. That high G is reentrant: it's higher in pitch than the C and E strings next to it, which is what gives the uke its characteristic sound.
Baritone ukulele tunes like the top four strings of a guitar: D3 G3 B3 E4. For low-G uke tuning, replace G4 with G3.
Mandolin shares its tuning with the violin: G3 D4 A4 E5, but each note has a pair of strings tuned to the same pitch. Tune each string of a pair independently; tiny mistunes between the two strings create the chorus-like shimmer mandolins are known for, but the tuner won't lock cleanly until both strings are very close.
Singers can use the tuner for ear training and pitch-matching practice. Sing a sustained vowel ("ah" or "oo" works best, since consonants and sibilants confuse pitch detection) and watch the needle. For interval practice, set the A4 reference to match a piano or backing track and sing each scale degree slowly, holding each note long enough to read.